Nazi Victims of the Holocaust Currently Residing in Canada, the United States, Central & Eastern Europe and Western Europe

Transcription

1 Nazi Victims of the Holocaust Currently Residing in Canada, the United States, Central & Eastern Europe and Western Europe Estimates & Projections: Extended Abstract Submitted to PAA 2010 Berna Torr, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Sociology California State University-Fullerton Ron Miller, Ph. D. Associate Director Berman Institute-North American Jewish Data Bank Pearl Beck, Ph.D. Director, Evaluation Ukeles Associates, Inc. September 2009 DRAFT

2 This analysis focuses on the methodology used to create a set of estimates and projections of the number of surviving Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust in four major world regions: Canada, the United States, Central & Eastern Europe and Western Europe. We discuss the variety of data sources used to estimate the population of survivors in 2010 and then project forward the population of Nazi victim survivors through 2030 using a cohort component methodology and age-specific mortality rates for Jews the same age living in Israel. 1 In addition, we plan to present estimates and projections of the number of Nazi victims who are likely to have the greatest need for assistance, focusing on those in economic distress an/or physical disability. This extended abstract contains the initial estimates and projections for each region and a brief description of our methodology, which will be discussed in more detail. For this analysis, a Nazi victim is a Jew, born before mid-1945, who lived in a country at a time when it was under a Nazi regime, under Nazi occupation, or under the regime of Nazi collaborators or a Jew, born before mid-1945, who fled from potential Nazi rule or Nazi occupation to a country or region not under Nazi rule or occupation. Flight cases include those who fled shortly before their country was invaded, those who fled during the Nazi invasion of their country, and those who fled shortly after their country was occupied. 2 METHODOLOGY Estimates A worldwide census of Nazi victims does not exist, and methods for providing data on the number of survivors vary considerably among the nations included in this report. In 2000, Ukeles noted: There are no reliable statistics on the number of surviving Jewish victims of Nazi persecution living in the world today. There are certainly no statistics on their ages, economic circumstances or any other characteristics. Since 2000, there has been considerable improvement in the quantity and quality of data on Jewish Nazi survivors, including governmental and charitable organization sponsored censuses and surveys; this report benefits from those studies but the 1 The authors wish to thank The Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany [the Claims Conference] for underwriting part of this project, and for their support during the analysis, including access to internal Claims Conference materials which focused on survivor projections. All estimates and projections are the responsibility of the authors, however, and reflect their analysis and presentation of the data, not an official Claims Conference position. 2 Definition based on Jacob B. Ukeles (consultant) June 28, 2000 report for the Planning Committee of The Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany, A Plan for Allocating Successor Organization, p. 14. Report is available online at the Claims Conference website: The Nazi victim definition used by Ukeles and the authors of this paper derives from estimates of the number of Nazi survivors worldwide for the Israeli government developed by the Spanic Committee in Israel in

3 cautionary note on survivor data as estimates remains true for many countries and regions. For some areas, such as Canada, the estimates used in this analysis are based on census data and estimates/projections are likely to be highly reliable. n other areas, such as the United States, the sources are moderately reliable, largely based upon random interview-based surveys conducted nationally and in the New York area between 2000 and In a few countries, however, the data sources are inconsistent and at times contradictory, with the published estimates for the same country (for example, France) varying significantly among different sources. In these countries, the lack of reliable, agreed-upon data made the estimation and projection process much more difficult statistically, and probably somewhat less useful for planning and policy decisions. An analysis of the quality of data within each of these regions will be included focusing separately on Canada, the United States, Central & Eastern Europe, and Western Europe. The different data and methods used to create estimates for each region are discussed in each respective section. Projections For each region, estimates were projected forward using a cohort-component methodology and applying age-specific mortality rates. Mortality rates used for all projections in this report are based upon published mortality rates from for Jews living in Israel who emigrated from Europe, or indirectly through America, by appropriate age (55-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70-74, 75-79, 80-84, and 85+), and sex-specific categories. The Israel data provides the largest, and most accurate base, for calculating mortality of the Nazi victim cohort. The projections noted above applied the Israel mortality data to the age-and-gender specific estimates for each region. For purposes of calculating mortality within the age and gender groups noted above, the distribution of survivors within each five year cohort was assumed to be equal within each year. Projections assume zero net mobility among nations. Note that for Central and Eastern Europe two adjustments were made. First, mortality rates were adjusted upward one five-year age group for Central and Eastern Europe because initial analyses suggested that the mortality rates were too low for this region. Second, a minor adjustment for outmigration (2% annually) was added to those under 75 in Central and Eastern Europe between 2003 and CANADA Of the four geographic areas included in this report, only Canada (2001) has had a formal governmental census which includes sufficient information on the respondent s religion, age, country of birth, and year of immigration to Canada to provide a censusbased total count of Nazi survivors. 3

4 For 2001, the census report on the Jewish Elderly indicated that 23,660 Jewish Holocaust survivors lived in Canada. 3 Table 1 summarizes estimates and projections for the number of Nazi victims survivors living in Canada in 2010, 2015, 2020, 2025 and Table 1 - Estimates of Holocaust Survivors, Canada, , by Gender* Year ALL Survivors Canada Male Survivors Canada Female Survivors, Canada ,660 10,910 12, ,800 7,600 9, ,500 5,700 6, ,600 3,900 4, ,400 2,400 3, ,900 1,300 1,600 3 See 2001 Census Analysis Series, The Jewish Community of Canada: Part III, The Jewish Elderly, Charles Shahar, July 2004, UIA Federations Canada, based on data provided by Statistics Canada. The report was issued in 2004, and indicated a much larger Jewish Nazi victim population in Canada than had been reported in 2003 by Sergio DellaPergola, Review of Relevant Demographic Information on World Jewry: Final Report Presented to the Hon. Secretary Lawrence S. Eagleburger, Chairman, The International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, issued Jerusalem: Hebrew University, Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, November In 2003, before the Canadian Census data was reported, DellaPergola estimated just over 12,000 Canadian Jewish victims of the Holocaust (the DellaPergola report is also available at: The Ukeles report for the Claims Conference in 2000 did not provide specific estimates for Canada in the text of the report; Canadian Nazi victims were included in the rest of the world category. In Appendix 1.4c, however, Ukeles cited an estimate of 21,500 Canadian Nazi victims in 1998, based on the Factor 1998 report update of the Spanic Committee 1997 data. The census-based estimate of 23,660 survivors in 2001 is the most accurate estimate available for Canadian Nazi victims. It may slightly overestimate the number of victims, however. The Canadian Census, as a national study, did not include a specific question on whether the respondent, and/or other members of the household, had resided in an area occupied by the Nazis, or had fled from an occupied area in terms consistent with the definition of a survivor noted above. The statistical analysis focused on identifying Jewish individuals who had been born before 1945 in all of Eastern Europe and the appropriate areas in Western Europe, and had migrated to Canada after Dr. Shahar, the author, noted that the initial 23,660 survivor estimate for 2001 might have included some cases in which the respondent (or others in the household) were born in Europe, immigrated to a non-european country before the war/nazi emergence, then migrated to Canada after 1940; these cases were classified in Shahar s analysis of the Canadian census data as Holocaust survivors, even though he noted that they are not. 4

5 THE UNITED STATES Unlike the Canadian data based on a complete enumeration of Jewish respondents to the 2001 Canadian Census, data on Holocaust survivors living in the United States are primarily based on sample survey data of Jewish respondents. Two surveys asked questions of a limited number of respondents. However, these respondents were asked a series of questions which directly reflected the definition of a Nazi victim, specifically trying to determine whether the European-born respondent had lived in an area under Nazi control, or had fled from Nazi occupied areas during the Nazi era. In the National Jewish Population survey of (NJPS), 146 randomly-generated interviews with survivors (out of over 4,500 extensive completed Jewish household interviews) provided the base data to scientifically estimate the number and characteristics of Nazi survivors in the United States. 4 In the 2002 New York Jewish Community Study, the U.S. area with the largest concentration of survivors in the United States, survey data was collected on 412 Jewish Nazi victims from 319 randomly selected Jewish households in the eight-county New York area. 5 Since the data on Holocaust survivors from both of these studies were based on random sample interviews, scientific estimation-weighting procedures commonly used in survey research were used to estimate the total number of Jewish Nazi victims who were estimated by to live in the New York area, and in the United States. Survivor estimates in this report are based upon a reanalysis of both studies. Table 2 summarizes estimates and projections for the number of Nazi victims survivors 4 See Nazi Victims Residing in the United States, Report 2, April 2004, United Jewish Communities Report Series on the National Jewish Population Survey , Laurence Kotler-Berkowitz, Lorraine Blass, Danyelle Neuman. In the NJPS study, data on Nazi victims was collected from 146 survivors, who indicated that they had either lived in a European/former Soviet Union nation that was under Nazi control from , or that they had fled from a nation in Europe/FSU because it was under Nazi control. Questions were only asked about the randomly-selected respondent, not about other household members who might have been Nazi victims; the NJPS data, therefore, does not contain information about multiple victim households. 5 The eight-county area included the five boroughs of New York City, as well as the continuous New York state counties of Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester. Details on Nazi victim data from the 2002 New York study are available at the North American Jewish Data Bank in a report by Ukeles Associates, Inc. [Jacob B. Ukeles and Ron Miller] to UJA-Federation of New York, The Jewish Community Study of New York: 2002, Special Report: Nazi Victims Living in the New York Area: Selected Topics, November The New York study collected data from 319 Jewish households about 412 Nazi victims, using questions almost identical tom the NJPS format, but also including questions about whether other household members born in Europe/FSU had been Nazi victims. In 161 households, the respondent was the only Nazi survivor; in 85 households, the respondent and another victim (usually the spouse) were both survivors; in 73 households, the respondent was not a victim, but another household adult had been a Holocaust survivor, having lived in the area or fled from the area because of Nazi occupation. 5

6 living in the United States in 2001, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2025 and Table 2 - Estimates of Holocaust Survivors, United States, , by Gender Year ALL Survivors United States Male Survivors United States Female Survivors, United States , ,900 99, ,300 48,500 78, ,400 36,200 62, ,100 23,300 43, ,800 11,600 25, ,800 4,500 11,300 6 The estimated number of survivors living in the United States as of mid-2001, has been recalculated to 161,500, a significant increase from the reported 122,000 in the official NJPS documentation and reports. The authors of this report believe the original estimate was much too low, and have adjusted it in order to better reflect the number of survivors that would have been projected from survey interviews if NJPS had not had serious methodological, data and estimation problems. See The National Jewish Population Survey , Strength, Challenge and Diversity in the American Jewish Population, updated report, January 2004, p.2) This report s mid-2001 estimate of 161,500 Nazi victim survivors living in the United States is closer to the estimates calculated and published separately by Sergio DellaPergola and Ira Sheskin in the early 1990s. DellaPergola estimated 174,000 Shoah survivors were living in the United States in 2003 ( Review of Relevant Demographic Data on World Jewry, Final Report Presented to the Hon. Secretary Lawrence S. Eagleburger, Chairman, The International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, November 2003); DellaPergola used an intermediate extensive definition of survivors (see page 13 of his report for the definition used and relevant discussion). In a 2004 report, Sheskin presented an estimate of the U. S. Jewish Nazi victim population as 175,000 (Ira M. Sheskin, originally titled Estimates of the Number of Nazi Victims and Their Economic Status, but later renamed Estimating the Number of Nazi Victims in the U.S. Using NJPS , Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies, University of Miami, May The Sheskin analysis as revised in the later report supports the 174,000 estimate without including the 175,000 estimate). A reanalysis of the NJPS data for the eight New York study counties showed that about one-third of all Nazi victims in the U.S. resided in the New York area (a reasonable proportion). Since the New York 2002 data estimated 55,000 survivors in the eight-counties, and the eight-county area represented onethird of Holocaust survivors in the NJPS data file, the approximate number of United States survivors in should have been approximately 165,000 (55,000*3) in The estimate of 161,500 Nazi victims used for 2001 reflects these calculations, with an adjustment for mortality from of approximately 2% since NJPS survey interviewing occurred from 2000 through mid

7 CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE The basic data sources used for the analysis of Holocaust survivors living in Central & Eastern Europe are remarkably similar in their estimates of the number of Nazi victim survivors in between 32,300 and 37,700 but are also remarkably similar in the lack of useful details on age-gender distributions, which are critical for mortality estimates. In 2002, a report from the Swiss Humanitarian Fund indicated that there were approximately 34,770 in Central & Eastern Europe. Countries included were Albania, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. Hungarian survivors accounted for 57% of the Swiss Humanitarian Fund estimates for the entire region. In November 2003, Sergio DellaPergola s summary of demographic information on World Jewry 8 covered an almost identical list of countries. He included estimates from Macedonia, Slovenia and Turkey, estimating that approximately 32,300 Jewish survivors of the Holocaust lived in Central and Eastern Europe. DellaPergola s countryby-country estimate paralleled the Swiss Humanitarian Fund report with the estimates partially reflecting the impact of one year s mortality. DellaPergola s Hungarian estimate was 18,000, 56% of the regional total. Neither report provided significant age-sex data useful for mortality calculations and projections. However, a January 2004, JDC (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) report noted that approximately 70% of Central and Eastern European survivors were elderly women living alone. 9 In order to further develop a useful age-gender distribution for mortality projections, the authors requested (and received) 2008 data from MAZSOK, the official Jewish Heritage of Hungary Public Endowment (through the Claims Conference staff) which maintained a useful summary data file. The report from MAZSOK was reviewed, and a backwards extrapolation from 2008 to 2003 was performed to develop age-sex ratios and a likely estimate of the number of victims in Prof. Sergio DellaPergola, Report on Relevant Demographic Information on World Jewry Presentation on the Condition and Needs of Jewish Victims of Nazi Persecution in Central & Eastern Europe, submitted to Chief Judge Edward R. Korman, United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, January 30, 2004, The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. The JDC report estimated that 37,700 survivors lived in the region, including 22,000 in Hungary, compared to the Swiss Humanitarian Fund s count of 19,859 Jewish Nazi victims in Hungary, and DellaPergola s 18,000 estimate one year later. The JDC increased was based on a 2004 survey of Hungarian Jews (see: JPR, report No. 1, 2004, Jews and Jewry in Contemporary Hungary. The report consists of a number of nonintegrated PDF files, see: 7

8 Based on the review, 10 the authors have used the following parameters for the Nazi victim estimates for Central & Eastern European Jews: The number of survivors in 2003 was estimated to be 32,300, reflecting the original data from the Swiss Humanitarian Fund report in 2002, and DellaPergola s adjustments, including one-year mortality, for the 2003 report; Two-thirds of all survivors in 2003 were estimated to be women; female survivors were much more likely to be older. The 2008 age-sex ratios from the MAZSOK Hungarian data have been applied to the entire Central-Eastern European region; the age-sex data were slightly adjusted to compensate for mortality since 2003, and were then used for mortality calculations and survival projections after 2003; Adjustments to mortality rates and out-migration were made as discussed in the methodology section above. Table 3 summarizes estimates and projections for the number of Nazi victims survivors living in Central and Eastern Europe in 2010, 2015, 2020, 2025 and Table 3 - Estimates of Holocaust Survivors, Central and Eastern Europe, , by Gender Year ALL Survivors Central & Eastern Europe Male Survivors Central & Eastern Europe Female Survivors Central & Eastern Europe ,300 10,800 21, ,900 8,600 16, ,500 6,500 12, ,600 4,500 8, ,400 2,700 4, ,400 1,200 2, The MAZSOK report indicated that at least 11,000 Hungarian Jewish survivors of the Holocaust still lived in Hungary, that over 63% were female, and that females were much more likely to be older (over 75 and especially over 85) than were males. The backwards extrapolation also indicated that the JDC estimate of 22,000 Hungarian victims in 2004 based on the Hungarian survey data was most likely an overestimate, compared to the data initially based on the Swiss Humanitarian Fund report. 8

9 WESTERN EUROPE In contrast to the general consensus of survivor estimates for Central & Eastern Europe noted in the previous section, consensus on Holocaust victim estimates for Western Europe-residing survivors might be impossible to achieve. Estimates of the total Holocaust survivor population living in Western Europe do not vary from each other in the thousands, but in the tens of thousands indeed, in multiple tens of thousands. Historically, the Spanic Committee in 1997 estimated that between 80,000 and 100,000 Nazi victims resided in Western Europe. In 1998, Factor and Struminski revised the original Spanic Committee report and estimated 106,000 Nazi victims in Western European countries. 11 Countries included were Austria, Belgium, Britain (U.K.), Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. In 2000, Ukeles estimated 96,400 Nazi victims in Western Europe, assuming a two-year mortality of approximately 9%. By 2003, 12 the Ukeles mortality factor of 4.5% annually would have resulted in a projection for Western Europe of 83,400 Nazi victims. In 2003, in the same report on world Jewry in which Sergio DellaPergola s estimate for Central and Eastern Jewish survivors produced a number very close to the estimates provided by Swiss Humanitarian Fund 2002 data and the JDC 2004 estimate, the DellaPergola estimate for the same countries in Western Europe that had been included in the Spanic, Factor and Ukeles estimates was just under 197,000 Holocaust survivors over 90,000 higher than any other estimate previously reported. Part of the explanation for the discrepancy is the vastly expanded definition of Shoah victim used by DellaPergola, especially his inclusion of almost all North African born Jews in the survivor estimates for France. DellaPergola s expansive definition of victim resulted in a Shoah survivor estimate of 123,500 for France, far exceeding the earlier maximum estimate of 65, On the other hand, if one reduces the DellaPergola estimate of survivors in France to even the 65,000 initially estimated by Factor and Struminski in 1998, DellaPergola s 2003 estimates for Western Europe still approach over 130,000 survivors. Some of his 11 See Appendix Exhibits 1.1 and 1.4 in the Ukeles, 2000 report, A Plan for Allocating Successor Organization Resources for a useful summary of the estimates originally developed worldwide by Spanic et al. in 1997, and Factor and Struminski in A follow-up report by Ukeles in 2003 was an early effort to age the 2000 data. 12 Ukeles Associates, Inc, An Estimate of the Current Distribution of Jewish Victims of Nazi Persecution, report prepared for the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, October Ukeles only presented estimates for Western and Eastern Europe combined in the 2003 report; the 83,400 victim estimate for only Western Europe was calculated by the authors of this paper. 13 In general, the Claims Conference s definition of Nazi victim minimizes the extent to which North Africans Jews currently living in France would be classified as survivors, and restricts the time period. This paper will follow the Claims Conference definition, and consider only a small number of North African French survivors in the preliminary estimate used for projections. 9

10 estimates in the 2003 document have been confirmed by reports issued after the original Spanic and Factor documents. For example, Factor s estimate of 106,000 Nazi victim survivors in Western Europe included just over 3,000 in the United Kingdom, while DellaPergola estimated 12,750 in 2003, a number confirmed much closer to a recent analysis of the British census which estimated 11,000 survivors in the United Kingdom in In general, Western Europe has experienced an in-migration of survivors (and other Jews) over the past decade, so the original estimates by Spanic and Factor are probably still correct for a decade later, as immigration may have counterbalanced mortality. As such, this analysis uses as a working definition-hypothesis an estimate of 100,000 survivors in Western European nations as of Sufficient data does not exist to provide a more precise, or more defensible estimate even if differing definitions of Holocaust survivor are resolved. Table 4 summarizes estimates and projections for the number of survivors living in Western Europe in 2000, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2025 and Table 4 - Estimates of Holocaust Survivors, Western Europe, , by Gender Year ALL Survivors Western Europe Male Survivors Western Europe Female Survivors Western Europe ,000 46,100 53, ,800 32,300 38, ,800 24,100 28, ,400 16,600 19, ,800 10,300 12, ,100 5,400 6, Report cited in private correspondence from the Claims Conference: David Graham, Establishing An Estimate of the Number of Jews Born Before the End of World War II and Living in England and Wales Census Data Analysis, October 25,

11 SUMMARY: CANADA, UNITED STATES, CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE, WESTERN EUROPE, Table 5 summarizes the projected number of Holocaust survivors in each region, and for the four areas combined, from 2010 through 2030; Table 5 - Estimated, Projected Number of Holocaust Survivors, All Four Geographic Regions, Year Canada United States Central & Eastern Europe Western Europe Total , ,300 24,900 70, , ,500 98,400 18,500 52, , ,600 67,100 12,600 36, , ,400 36,800 7,400 22,800 72, ,900 15,800 3,400 12,100 34,200 11